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Antonis Samaras, leader of the New Democracy party

Exit polls put the center-right New Democracy party slightly ahead of leftist Syriza in Greek parliamentary elections that could decide whether the country stays in the euro zone.

The second wave of exit polls, which includes late voters, have New Democracy receiving 28.6% to 30% of the vote, with Syriza at 27.5% to 28.4%.

That projects to 127 seats in the 300-member Parliament for New Democracy, according to Greek state TV, which would allow socialist PASOK, which was pulling 11% to 12.4% of the vote, to play the role of kingmaker.

If New Democracy comes out on top, it’s expected that it will form a national unity government with PASOK. The longtime rivals were unable to do so after the May 6 elections, but this time around, with the likelihood that stalemate would cost the country its bailout funding, the two parties are expected to put their differences aside. Both accept the broad outlines of the latest 130 billion euro bailout package, which required reforms in return for funding. However the leader of New Democracy, Antonis Samaras, has said he would try to renegotiate the terms.

The Democratic Left party, far behind with 5.8% to 6.6% according to exit polls, is unlikely to have enough seats to become a sole coalition partner for Syriza.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has rattled markets by campaigning for canceling many of the austerity programs that Greece agreed to carry out as a condition of receiving financial assistance. Nonetheless, he has said that the country should stay in the EU and the euro zone.

Update: Greece's Interior Ministry has released its projections for the election results: Seven parties in the next Parliament, same as in the Parliament elected May 6, with no change in the order of the parties but shifts in the number of seats each hold. (Note that election rules stipulate that the party with the most votes receives an extra 50 seats in order to make it easier to form a single-party government.)